


Not the World we had in Mind

by Frostberry



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Climate Change, Gen, Global Warming, based off the song "different world" by alan walker, i am so sad about this world, one day we'll all have self driving teslas and be organic motherfuckers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22520605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frostberry/pseuds/Frostberry
Summary: Pink Diamond goes back to her former colony to find it has been impacted by the events of Climate Change.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Not the World we had in Mind

Pink was focused on organising a ball for the Diamonds; some of Yellow’s soldiers had taken over a new planet with rich materials that could be used for new gem technology. It wasn’t particularly hard work; it was just boring, like every other day on Homeworld. She called up the Jades and asked them to practise their dancing; the Sapphires needed to change the order they came into the ballroom when there was an event on. The pebbles needed to create some new curtains. 

Pink’s Pearl came in after the Sapphires had left. She bowed as she usually did, gave a small giggle and then said, “Yellow Diamond is coming to visit you.” 

Pink felt a bit suspicious. Yellow was usually too busy - she hadn’t seen her or Blue for a while as they had been visiting a distant planet. They were supposed to come back the day the ball was going to be held. 

Pink Pearl stepped out the way for Yellow Pearl, who strutted in like she usually did, and did a fake little attention cough. “ _ Hem hem -  _ please make your presence known for the glittering, amazing, dedicated and loyal-” 

“Just say ‘Yellow’,” Pink wanted to roll her eyes; she had spent a long time trying to get gems to stop attempting to dazzle her as it was ridiculous. Not like she said it out loud often - she’d been told off for rudeness or being too kind by the other Diamonds at least several thousand times. 

Yellow Diamond was a lot taller than Pink, but Pink was (slowly) catching up. Give another millennium and she’d be the same height. 

“Your four thousand year ban on visiting Earth is now over,” Yellow Diamond announced, while Yellow Pearl stood in front of her, smirking away. “Blue and I had decided to go and have an assessment on the planet to see how it has been since your little war.” 

Pink looked surprised and glanced up at Yellow. She didn’t realise it had been that long. Pink  _ loved  _ that little planet with all its organic life forms - it was so cute. It was like being in a playground with everything to discover and there was always a surprise around the corner. During her time there, she thought she’d trick the other Diamonds by turning into Rose Quartz and declaring war against them, only to be dragged back to Homeworld before the matter got out of hand. She did think about it occasionally - and the gems she had left behind like her old Pearl and the Garnet she had become friends with. 

Yellow grimaced slightly before carrying on. “Pink, Earth doesn’t seem to be doing too well. Most planets don’t do too well after a gem colony has been there - but to be very honest, Pink, this has nothing to do with us, what is going on there.” 

“Is it a war?” Pink wouldn’t be surprised if it was. When she was on Earth, she had seen the little squabbles the humans did, fighting over food and land. “What’s happened?” She was drained for news from that little planet she adored. “Tell me.”

Yellow got out her little book of notes she kept on her and read outloud for Pink. 

“The humans have managed to survive the many wars it has,” said Yellow, flicking through the pages. “Somehow, it’s managed to pull through. But most likely not this time.” 

“I want you to go see it, before it’s all gone.” She snapped the book shut. “Now your ban is over, you can.” 

***

Before they set foot on Earth, they transformed themselves into beings that looked close enough to be humans. Homeworld didn’t approve of shapeshifting, but only in circumstances when it was needed. Pink noticed Blue and Yellow must have used the Zoo as a reference, as they looked similar to the ones there. Pink was very careful not to look like a Quartz. 

Blue seemed a bit cautious about going back to Earth. “It’s not a nice place, Pink - it almost looks like what happens when one of our colonies takes over.” 

Yellow snorted. “It looks  _ nothing  _ like when our colonies have taken over.” 

Blue shifted a little. “Well, its similar.” 

“Glad I stopped it then,” Pink muttered under her breath. Blue nor Yellow heard her. Yellow Pearl opened the door from Yellow’s ship, and they clambered out. 

“Here is our first stop. A Desert.” 

The sky was so blue and bright that Pink had to squint. They were maybe of miles away from any civilisation. It took a few seconds to realise where she was - an old Kindergarten that had grown Rock Crystal. Abandoned since the war, nothing changed except the layers of red sand surrounding them. 

“This doesn’t look too bad,” Pink crouched down to take a handful of sand. She let it fall through her fingertips. 

“That’s because you’re not near the humans. This is out of reach for them, its too high up for some humans and they can get sick so nobody ventures around here,” Yellow crossed her arms, not looking too fussed. Blue was busy looking into the old holes, where the gems had came out of thousands of years ago. Pink noticed she walked past rusted drills and broken spades. She felt a bit sick. 

“Where to next?” 

Yellow checked the book. “We are going to a place which normal humans usually don’t go.” 

They were transported to a beach, thousands of miles away. Pink didn’t recognise it as a beach at first - she spent many hours on beaches on Earth. It always had a host of wildlife, and she enjoyed trying to catch the fish with her bare hands. 

The pale sand was not so pale anymore. There were patches of shiny dark liquid mixed in between, blue from the reflection of the sunny sky. 

“This is oil,” said Yellow, carefully trying not to step on it. “Humans use it as a source of energy for transport and to power machinery. Amongst other things, of course. We used to use something similar before we harnessed using light as our energy source for movement.” 

“Where’s the animals?” asked Pink. She didn’t want to move from her spot, in case she got some of the oil stuck to her toes. “What happened here?” The sea was also covered in black liquid, but it wasn’t moving like the water was. It was lazy and still while the tide washed gently towards them. 

It seemed sticky. 

“Gone,” said Blue. 

“Where have they gone?” 

“The oil is poisonous,” said Blue. “You don’t want to know.” 

“There was a spill in the ocean,” said Yellow. “Those little boats humans used to have - are now large and carry items around the world. They carry this oil to other places so humans can use it. The boat must have tipped. Nothing can survive direct contact with it.” 

“...So the birds and fish are gone?” 

“Unfortunately. Or they’ve fled.” Yellow didn’t sound as if she was  _ too  _ bothered by the situation. “Next, we’re going to an island.” 

***

Pink’s feet was then covered by a foot of water when they stepped out to their next destination. “This is an island in the Pacific Ocean,” said Yellow. Pink looked around, to see little shacks halfway flooded. “The glaciers were melting, which meant extra water came into the oceans. Low lying islands such as this one got flooded, making it uninhabitable.” 

“Does the oil from the beach have anything to do with it?” Pink asked. She peeked inside the little house to see the walls covered in barnacles. 

“Using it makes the planet hot, and it melts large amounts of ice,” said Yellow. She didn’t look inside the shack. Blue was examining a dead tree, rotted away by seawater. “It makes the seasons unpredictable. The people who lived here may have had horrendous weather. Storms then hot weather that could blister skin - and then, the floods came in.” 

“Where have they gone?” 

Yellow turned her back, to go back into the ship. “...They’ve fled.” 

Blue caught up to her, and went inside. “You coming, Pink?” 

Pink didn’t really want to go to the next location. “I’m coming.” 

***

Their second to last stop was some landfills. The first thing that hit Pink was the smell - a combination of burning and organic decay. Millions of objects were stacked higher than the height of White Diamond. Birds flew all around them, picking at objects and squawking. 

“That’s where all your birds have gone, Pink.” 

Pink covered her nose and dropped down from the ship into the waste. She had to make herself look larger than her human form as she would have drowned in the objects. There was a white light and she was now several metres tall. “What is it?” She picked up a handful of dirty diapers, not realising what they were. “Garbage. Humans use items once, and then dispose of them in seconds. The objects come here.” 

Pink looked shocked. “Why?” She looked down at Yellow and Blue, who had refused to leave the ship and stood by the edge of their sliding door. 

Both of them shrugged. 

Pink then spotted something bright and pink in the mess. She reached up and pulled it out, the other foul smelling objects falling around her. She jumped out of the way and landed on a large brown sofa covered in bird droppings. “Strawberry milk,” she read on the plastic bottle. “Makes your day taste delicious.” 

She looked on the back. “Expiry date 10th of March, 1980. What does that mean?” 

“It means you can’t drink it after that time. It’s their year system - its similar to ours.” 

A bird came swooping down, its beak hitting Pink’s hand as it tried to reach for the bottle. “Hey!” Another bird followed suit, then another. “Get back in the ship!” Yellow ordered. Pink jumped to safety, dropping the bottle. The birds then fought over it, pecking each other with sharp beaks. “Ugh, Pink - you smell.” 

Pink shimmered, and her form was shrunk again to get rid of the smell. “Is that better?” 

Yellow didn’t answer. “We have one more destination. To where the humans are.” 

***

The ship was parked on a satirical grey building, away from any human eyes, on something called a car park. The three of them went down the stairs, which was black and filthy. Walls were covered in spray paint. Small brightly coloured machines were parked neatly in rows. “These are cars. They use oil to get around. Humans use them to travel.” 

Pink watched as a human, dressed in black neat clothing, opened one of the doors of a car and sat in the front. There was a large mechanical noise, and the car reversed out of its spot and drove away. 

“Not as fast as our ships,” Blue commented. “Still fast for humans. Pink, look on the back of your shoe.” 

It was black and dirty. “Huh? We’ve only gone down stairs.” 

“The stairs need a wash,” Yellow said. “Let’s go down to into the city.” 

They went down several flights of stairs. One or two humans were walking up, occasionally carrying briefcases or talking loudly on phones. Their technology was very similar to Homeworld’s but on a much smaller scale. Pink wanted to ask them questions, but knew Yellow wouldn’t approve. 

Pink squeezed past the large line of humans on the bottom floor, all queuing at something called a ticket machine. They, like the one in the building in the car they saw, were mostly wearing black. Some of them were chatting, others had their heads down and looking at their phones. 

Opposite the building was something called a cafe which was written in block lettering. They waited for the cars to drive past with the other humans. Pink jumped when a large black stick on the other side of the road flashed, accompanied with a ticking noise. The flashing light then turned into a stick figure of someone walking. 

The three of them walked across with the others, and it reminded Pink of the gems who were always in a hurry to get things done. 

They went inside the cafe, a bell dinging in lieu of their arrival. A pretty woman dressed in dark red came out to greet them. 

“Hello, would you like a menu?” 

Pink didn’t know what that was. “Uh, yes.” 

“I can get you some water,” the woman offered. Yellow and Blue sat down at a table next to a large window. 

Pink was reminded of the oil spill she saw at the sea. “I’ll think about it.” She hurried to Yellow and Blue’s table and sat down. Around them were families, or friends laughing and eating. Outside, people rushed along. 

“Why is everyone so happy?” she said to the lady who handed her a large laminated sheet. “Is there nobody sad in this city?” 

The woman looked at Pink strangely. “Everyone is either happy or sad. Or some, can be in between. What would you like from the menu?” 

Pink then realised the menu was the sheet of paper she’d been given. “Um -” she looked down. “Coffee.” 

“White or black?” 

“...White?” she repeated. She didn’t know what it meant, but that was the queue for the woman to write it down and walk away. 

The table opposite them had some younger woman on it, laughing and chattering. Pink wanted to hear what they were saying, but it seemed too fast, and the cafe was very noisy. 

“How can they be happy when we just saw some horrible things humans have done, Yellow?” asked Pink. “It’s like - they’ve never seen it.” 

“They most likely haven’t,” Yellow replied. “Out of sight, out of mind.” 

That made sense. When Pink left the earth in disgrace as Rose Quartz, she thought about the Earth and the gems there for hundreds of years to come. As time went past, the less she thought about it. By the time Yellow mentioned Earth to her today, it had been around eighty years since she had thought about it. 

“There is evidence of the changes we have seen all around us,” said Yellow. She pointed out the window. “See those hills? They look foggy don’t they. But that’s smoke from the cars. Some humans can’t breathe very well in it.” 

“There must be other reasons for the planet to be heating up.” 

“There is,” agreed Blue. “Hundreds, if not thousands of reasons. We came here to show you some of the reasons, but not all of them.” 

“Don’t they have alternatives? Are they trying to reverse any of this?” 

Blue and Yellow looked at each other. “...We assume so.” 

The ladies next to them had now vacated their seats, leaving behind garbage on their little table. Pink spotted something that looked familiar. 

It was the same pink strawberry milk bottle. 

“ _ Strawberry milk, makes your day taste delicious.  _

_ Expiry date 20th February…  _ wait, that other bottle must have been from forty years ago…?” Pink said out loud. “How did it not decompose - ?” 

“The bottle’s made from oil.” said Yellow. “Like Blue said, there are thousands of reasons the Earth is not the beauty you once loved.” 

“...I want to stay and help them.” 

Yellow snorted. “Last time that happened you started a war with us. We’re leaving it alone for  _ your  _ safety.” 

“Don’t heal their world, Pink,” Blue whispered. “It’s their fault. They will try to fix it if we can, then we can come back and see how they’ve done it.”

Pink felt a lump in her throat. “I want to go home.” 

They got up, before the lady came out with the coffee Pink had unintentionally ordered. They used the walking path to get onto the other side of the street, where Pink saw some flowers cracking through the pavement. 

She glanced up at Yellow and Blue, who were queueing to get inside the car park and not looking at her. She bent down and healed a rather fragile looking stem. 

It bloomed into a beautiful flower. 

She took one last look at the city, then went inside, trying not to cry. 


End file.
